The Importance of Search and Rescue to Law Enforcement Operations - Blog Post 2

With the recent economic down turn, jobs in the law enforcement field are rare and are very competitive. One of the agencies instrumental in helping law enforcement personnel, even in the current rescission is SAR or Search and Rescue. By understanding the activities and duties of Search and Rescue to police work, one is better understand the unit’s importance to the law enforcement field.

To understanding the importance of SAR, one must first understand the actions of a Search and Rescue unit. Associated with any county or national park, a Search and Rescue unit is comprised of paid or volunteer workers. They are tasked with the main responsibility of assisting people in their greatest time of need. Each individual in the unit is trained in areas of Land Navigation, Wilderness Survival, First Aid, and CPR or Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation. There are also different sub-units in the Search and Rescue unit. There is a Mounted division that searches areas via horseback, a High Mountain rescue unit that rescues trapped hikers or climbers, and a Swift water rescue unit that deals with the lake and river rescues (Sacramento County Sheriffs).

A Search and Rescue Unit’s duties are not just inclined to finding missing people in urban and wilderness environments. In fact, in April of 2009, in Tracy, California, Search and Rescue units were deployed to Search for an 8 - year old missing girl(ABC News). She was later found deceased by a collaborative effort of Search and Rescue individuals and the local authorities. It was in this fine, that Search and Rescue units helped cordoned off the crime scene to await the appropriate law enforcement personnel.

There are other tasks law enforcement related tasks associated with Search and Rescue. One of the main one tasks are evidence searches. In the basic training of a SAR individual, they are taught in how to conduct a basic evidence search and what to do if one comes upon a piece of evidence associated with a crime. Also to aid Search and Rescue units are their dogs. Search and Rescue, not only trains their dogs on how to find live individuals, but to find deceased individuals and evidence specific to a certain crime. Scent dog were also used in the October 1993 Polly Klaas case where she was abducted from her home and later strangled to death (Polly Klaas Foundation).

One of the third duties Search and Rescue has to help law enforcement is their ability to locate dementia and Alzheimer’s patients. In fact, many urban searches have been conducted by walking door – to - door looking for the victim who went missing the day before. In July of 2009, Sacramento County Search and Rescue responded to the call of an elderly man who walked away. Surprisingly, the team found the victim through a quick search of the surrounding area (Sacramento County Sheriff’s).

It is through crime scene preservation, evidence searches, and conducting searches for patients with dementia and Alzheimer’s that Search and Rescue is and will forever be a vital assist to the law enforcement community. Participating in different searches, whether they be for an individual or evidence in a crime, the sacrifices of the Search and Rescue unit are made so “that others may live”.

Works Cited

• Sacramento County Search and Rescue. 2009. Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department. Sept 21. 2009 [http://www.sacsearchandrescue.com/]. + Photo
• Sandra Cantu Found in a Suitcase; Police Closing In on Suspect. April 2009. ABC News. Sept 21. 2009 [http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=7275611&page=1].
• Polly’s Story. 2009. Polly Klaas Foundation. Sept 21. 2009[http://www.pollyklaas.org/about/pollys-story.html].